A podcast all about Japanese cartoons and comics as discussed by three self-proclaimed experts in the world of anime and manga! Plus anime news / reviews, coverage of classic anime, hentai / yaoi, and much, much more. Updated every week. We hope.

Wednesday, June 03, 2009

With Show #80 begins Gerald's experiment, in which one host selects the anime that will be reviewed by the other two, rather than each person choosing on their own. Daryl is up first, and as such he is dragging everyone into the Madhouse...Studios, that is! Gerald's reviewing Kemonozume and Clarissa's reviewing Kaiba, both by Masaaki Yuasa. Meanwhile, Daryl himself shall speak of the grand masterpiece that is Goku: Midnight Eye!

Introduction (0:00 - 26:55)The Angry Otaku, who is angry that nobody else reads his blog or truly cares for him other than Daryl, sent in a voicemail regarding the wacky hijinks of North American companies releasing doujinshi in America. Not just any company, but Antarctic Press which thanks to furries is still kicking and teaching us that the easiest way to depict people with Down's Syndrome looking up is to just flip their head a full 180 degrees. We also get some clarification about the extended GaoGaiGar universe thanks to Carl over at Ogiue Maniax. But really, the BIG question nobody is asking until now is...what DO we think of Armitage the Third and Sol Bianca, anyway? We try our best to remember.

News? Nah, there's no news. Nothing really happened of note as of late. Oh wait. It's too long to fit in here, so we'll post it on its own. Onto what is philosophically known as "the REAL sentais":

Review: Kemonozume (26:55 - 43:27)
Gerald, having spent entirely too much time wallowing in absolute goddamned anime filth as of late, is given a chance by Daryl to wash himself clean by ways of watching through this series from 2006 that is guaranteed to be substantially different than whatever mind-numbing tripe the group hivethink which considers Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex to be "too boring" has forced him to put on at his weekly anime club meetings. You can take a man out of the anime ghetto...but can you take the anime ghetto out of the man? Warning: your ability to like the works of Masaaki Yuasa is directly proportional to your ability to like killer7. Note: if that link doesn't work, it's because the content management system for that site IS RETARDED. Also note that, as was the case with Mind Game, Benjamin Ettinger is the Most Dangerous Masaaki Yuasa fan on the Internet, so do peruse the Kemonozume posts on Anipages Daily to learn more.

Promo: Late Night Anime Review (43:27 - 43:47)
We would tell you what this podcast is about, except their About page links to the Wordpress sample page! Oh well, we can infer from the title that they review late night anime such as [checks] Bleach...Naruto...the live-action Dragonball...Advent Children--WAIT A SECOND

Review: Kaiba (43:47 - 1:09:17)
Clarissa, like all pre-Jerichoholics, has accepted mediocrity as excellence and has a fever...for which the only cure...is more Yuasa. But the only way to get her to take her medicine is to wrap it in her favorite item of consumption, which intelligence reports indicate is "pederasty." 2008's Kaiba is the answer! As always with Yuasa, what Benjamin Ettinger has written about Kaiba over at Anipages Daily is Dangerous, Most Dangerous. Pity that the only English-speaking people who really seem to know about and like Masaaki Yuasa's work enough to talk about it on the Internet are stoners. One step at a time...

Note: Rintaro did not direct My Youth in Arcadia. He directed the TV series Space Pirate Captain Harlock and the not-as-good Harlock: Endless Odyssey (released in the US as "Captain Herlock"). Refer to the old review here.

Promo: Videogame Cast (1:09:17 - 1:09:43)
Why is there a "W' in the abbreviation? There is no "W" in the name of the show! What, are they a terrestrial radio station located east of the Mississippi River? Is WVGC their call letter? It is a mystery! They did, however, watch and review Baoh. Now THAT'S what Gerald and Clarissa should rewatch!

Buichi Terasawa circa 1989. Kawajiri may not have that much hair anymore, but he still wears those shades. Terasawa's hair/shades combo, by contrast, is ETERNAL.

Although it's true that once you're sufficiently powerful you can dress however you damn well please, Goku's giving the cast of Jojo's Bizarre Adventure a run for their money with this outlandish getup. Like Colt 45, it works every time.Some might call this a mere Easter egg, but TRUE BELIEVERS know that truck is actually going TO Cyber City Oedo 808. Which we can only assume is a few blocks away from where Goku: Midnight Eye takes place.

Repeat after me: NOT GAY.

Just as with Cyber City Oedo, this single image encapsulates whether or not you want to see this cartoon. The HK sub version currently floating around on the Internet sucks. Better subbed versions may pop up soon, but come on. Surely someone out there has THE DUB.

Closing (1:52:18 - 1:57:19)
Next time, it's Gerald's turn to select anime for everyone else to review. With such freedom to have others review virtually anything that can be viewed in about 4 hours, the anime selection one chooses as a result of this project truly shows what kind of human being they are deep down. As such, after roughly a month and a half of deliberation, Gerald has opted to have Clarissa review...Butt Attack Punisher Girl Gautaman...and Daryl must review...Kekko Kamen. If these weren't EXCITING enough for you, Gerald has saved the ultimate excitement for himself since he will be reviewing...Battle Fairy Yukikaze. Contemplate this...on the tree of woe.

ooo I feel special. Might I mention that I did not bring up the furries this time... and I actually like Fred Perry... his love for the old school kung fu brings us together as brothers. I did die a little inside when I saw "furry" NHS, but since the original NHS had a skunk fu#%er in it... well what does one expect.

Regarding NHS and the best manga ever (Urusei Yatsura); it's more a rippoff of Urusei Yatsura from a fandom perspective than a legal perspective (along with A-ko, Fist of the North Star, and even Spiderman). If you claim copyright on that pairing, the owners of "The Day the Earth Stood Still" would have a case against "E.T."

After the spanking, AP started publishing original doujinshi that didn't cross the copyright line, for example "Silbuster." They were good reads, and filled the gap between the 4 weeks it would take an issue of Ranma 1/2 or Caravan Kidd to come out from the major publishers.

I don't know about you guys, but I would prefer the show to include the news bit. I don't care if the show turns out to be three hours long.

Saw Artimage years ago, other than the character design it didn't make an impression on me. The first Sol Bianca OVAs were nice.

Speaking of OVAs, Lucky Star's OVA WON'T include a dub. Is the industry THAT bad right now that even top tier shows aren't getting dubbed? I guess that it it's not going to be on TV it's not dub worthy. I personally don't care for dubs even though LS's one was pretty good.

C'mon Clarissa, get Daryl to watch SOMETHING moe or cute when you pic out a show for him. Anything of the cathartic nature. It'll be like in Indiana Jones when the Nazis melt upon seeing the Arc. Same thing will happen when watching Hidamari Sketch.

Wait, Daryl is 9 months away, and I just became 9 years away from the otaku expiration date? Spooky!

As far as up and coming talent goes... I think Shinbo Akiyuki is pretty good, but he made Tsukuyomi -MOONPHASE- which I guess is universally hated around these parts. A pity, because he's a cool guy (and Tsukuyomi rocks)! I guess he's also... pushing 50.

I'll also have you know that I am in fact watching the new Cobra subs. They're fine, but I like original TV series a lot better--Dezaki's style (his old style, not sure about him now) really fit the show perfectly, with things fading into epic painted stills every 2 seconds. I'd like to be on for a Cobra show, but I haven't seen it in a while. Also I'm a pedo.

I remember seeing Goku Midnight Eye as a kid in Potomac Video, and wondering why the guy on the front wasn't the Goku I knew from DBZ...

Sol Bianca 1 came out well before Sol Bianca 2 and both came out *long* (in relative terms) before Legacy, or as i liked to call it, the El-Hazarding of Sol Bianca. SB1 was in essence a mishmash of Bubble Gum Crisis & Gall Force, but it definitely came through with a nice style overall and the OAV turned out very good imho. it only went downhill from there however.And btw, I do have that issue of H-Bomb and the Doujinshi issues around here somewhere. i'll look around for them while i move. ^^good episode as always.

On the episode names... I would just prefer if you went back to the three-hour long episodes. Since the release gap between episodes are so long anyway, I don't mind if the episodes become longer to compensate for that (and would prefer that route going on)

Even though I'm only 36:58 through the new show, I wanted to say that I would prefer half-sized shows with less time to wait (as you've been doing), than have to wait longer between A.W.O.s. It's kind of like manga in Japan, you know--not having to wait several months for the whole GN at once, but getting new chapters every few weeks in a magazine.

I actually sat in on a small portion of Kiefer Sutherland's recording sessions on ARMITAGE III, covering it for ANIMERICA magazine---there's a seven-page article on it in the Vol. 4, No. 6 issue. He talked about the technical challenges of this kind of voice acting, comparing it to what his dad had done as a guest voice on THE SIMPSONS, where you got to say your lines first, and then they made the animation later. So it may have simply been that even though he was talented and his ADR director (Kevin Seymour) was too, his lack of experience with this specific method of acting worked against the first-time performance. I might note that he chain-smoked in the studio, the first time I'd seen anyone do so the way it's done in old suspense novels. I mean, as each cigarette burned down to the end, he'd tap another out of the pack, and touch it to the cherry.

I got a very positive impression of Kiefer Sutherland personally, by the way. A nice guy who seemed real, none of that celebrity shit. Even though ANIMERICA had been told we could have the interview by Pioneer, and I'd driven down there from S.F. to do so, it looked for a moment like it wasn't going to happen. It was Kiefer who came out at the end of the session and said, "Hey, is this the magazine?" or some such, and sat down (on the stairs) to give me the interview. You could tell the reps weren't happy about it--they kept edging forward, then edging away. I swear, they were like zaibatsu henchmen in a Sprawl novel--I kept waiting for one of them to dispatch me with a monofilament garrote.

Considering you guys are basically on a monthly schedule these days, I say throw us the three hour podcast all at once. It makes me feel manly to listen to a three hour podcast. That said, I'll take whatever I can get, and whatever you do is fine by me.

Goku Midnight Eye freaking owns! Watched it right after listening to the podcast. Beautiful 80s animation, and knowing when to expect all the ludicrous plot elements somehow made them more enjoyable. Would happily watch again with friends.

After watching the first episode of both series, I love the unique artstyles of Kemonozume and Kaiba. I'm somewhat skeptical that I will be immediately drawn in by either series, but if I had to guess, I think I'll end up watching Kemonozume first.

Just when I thought I'd never hear "Ass Man" Billy Gunn's theme song ever again here comes Daryl Surat to lodge it into my brain. It was running in my head all fucking day.

Fun Episode.

Since the last episode I've tried watching Kemonozume and Midnight Eye Goku. I passed out towards the end of the 1st episode of Goku I guess it was HK sub fatigue. Now I have to find this sub track you mentioned in the episode so I can watch episode 2. I can't get into Kemonozume, I might try watching it later. I'll most likely shotgun Kaiba before I do the other shows.

Glad yall are doing that Butt Attack Punisher Girl show, I've been on Dave and Joel's forum telling them to do that. You'd think they'd learn to heed my advice since I pointed them to the Ultimate Teacher.

I'm more partial to just giving each upload an episode number and screw the parts A's and B's crap. So what if one recording makes 5 episodes? But do what you want my ipod will play them either way. :)

LUCKY STAR is much too cute a portrayal of the otaku experience for me. GENSHIKEN-level cute is fine, as long as we heed Kohta Hirano's words about who the truly moest character is.

Anon, I haven't seen those commercials, but I'll check them out. Kiefer said he had only watched anime on TV as a kid (he mentioned Kimba), but ARMITAGE made him curious to check out more. He did say that anime enabled you to play human roles of a type you couldn't be cast for in real life, or perhaps nobody could be cast for (I remember him debating with Kevin during a scene about exactly how tall Armitage seemed to be in relation to Ross).

Daryl, I had also gotten the impression that in-betweening work was something that had left Japan; however, at Fanime Con, Gainax world-premiered a feature-length documentary on the making of GURREN LAGANN based on footage that was shot two years ago by a visiting German filmmaker.

Several minutes were devoted to the in-betweeners working in the studio at Gainax. As Gerald was getting at, the documentary talked about how low-paid a task this is, mentioning a fee of 200 yen per drawing...

Fine. I say we settle this like adults. That said, I challenge you to a Powerpoint-off. The person who makes the most ridiculous 10-slide Powerpoint presentation wins. Topic is David Carradine Memorial. Accept or be a bitch.

An unfair challenge, madam! For I've actually never used Powerpoint in my entire life and as such do not know how to make any sort of Powerpoint presentation at all, let alone one worthy of properly capturing the majesty of Circle of Iron.

Let's even the battlefield. Best Kidz Bop karaoke dance video. You go first. The Pied Piper of Nerds commands it!

I thought Urban Vision released it on tape. Or is it different from the U.K. dub?

On tape, yes. But there is no digitally available version, either via DVD rip or VHS capture.

C'mon Clarissa, get Daryl to watch SOMETHING moe or cute when you pic out a show for him.

*yawn* Another VZ post. Do you really think that if I watch any of that stuff it'll result in me delivering some sort of Angry Videogame Nerd / Zero Punctuation / Harlan Ellison-style invective? Well, it won't. My reaction will be just like Paul Chapman's (aka White Daryl's) reaction to the Michael Bay Transformers. Hint: it involves saying and feeling nothing whatsoever.

Let's even the battlefield. Best Kidz Bop karaoke dance video. You go first. The Pied Piper of Nerds commands it!

Ah, but then you'd have the advantage because I can't use my legs or back and thus would forfeit automatically. Okay, then. Best possible fanfiction about Neil Nadelman and Carl Horn as buddy cops. YOU can go first.

I do have Kaiba and Kemonozume around somewhere, but need to actually sit down and watch them. Couldn't do so in time for the reviews. While I'll only know for sure after finishing either, Kaiba does sound like it'll be more up my alley.

As for Goku Midnight Eye, apparently I've only ever seen the second episode with the infamous M. Bison and Psychic Kenshiro/Raoh rip-offs...which is why I was laughing my ass off but otherwise quite lost until Daryl got around to it. Then everything made sense and I laughed even harder.

I barely remember Armitage III. Never even heard of Sol Bianca.

The four part Cobra OVA was quite fun, if also full of distracting cheesecake and a suspiciously familiar soundtrack. Which shouldn't have surprised me. And not that I'm complaining, but time bullets are among the most ridiculously overpowered gadgets I've seen since the Roger Moore era. Still, I was entertained and will watch more.

Can't really speak about the other two shows yet, but that Kekko Kamen review should be amusing.

So I just finished mainlining all of Kemonozume and I have to say, it was a very satisfying watch. It is exactly the kind of love story I love to watch - One with lots of sex and violence. (and monsters) I'm gonna have to side a little with Gerald on the art though, it kept taking me out of the moment at irritating intervals but the story had me gripped enough to handle it.

And fuck you, I like Gold Digger. Fred Perry draws some nice tits. I can handle the 1/10th furry it bestows upon me. Couldn't be any worse than the 1/10th pedo that Azumanga Daioh gives you for liking it.

I must object to Max Dunn's assertion that Fred Perry draws nice tits in the strongest possible sense. The breasts he draws look like perfect spheres with pointy pyramids embedded where the nipples ought to be. You could put an eye out with one of those things.

Also, Kekko Kamen is dull. The idea of a nude super-heroine smothering bad guys with her crotch must be funnier in concept than in execution.

My favorite manga in high school were high school manga--I wasn't looking for total escapism, just a cooler version of real life. I ran into NINJA HIGH SCHOOL at Wondercon '87 I think, just a few months before I graduated from high school myself. It reminded me to make sure I pulled a few more pranks in the time I had left. Later, NHS would be an early showcase for Robert De Jesus, and I believe Radman had his first published work in one of the annuals (in which both he and Gavv make a cameo). Also, Liz and I gotta say WHASSUP to Joe Wight.

Sorry to be OT but I had the pleasure of watching GONAD THE BARBARIAN this morning. No, I didn't pay $50 for the tape, there's a torrent of it on Akiba-Online. It was pretty much want Gerald said it was. I can see now why most Cream Lemon is remembered and stuff like this is totally forgotten.

Once again you guys (read: Daryl) had me in stitches over his review and in fact if everyone on night recieving weren't already crazy, I probably would of gotten some pretty wierd looks. I loved it, even though I knew nothing about the series, thanks to you guys.. I've gotten a good rundown. I'm not sure about Kemonozume, but Kaiba and Goku seem like they'd probably be right up my alley. (I don't know, the one that Gerald reviewed just didn't strike any particular interest in me.)

So glad you guys got another show out, keep up the good work!

(And personally, I can't wait to see what Clarissa has in store for everyone.. that should be good for some laughs.. though Gerald's sound pretty lol-inducing as well.)

Well, I don't mind at least reading people's questions (even if, in the words of Chu, "I don't have answers"), but of course, it's A.W.O.'s board...

Raika was from the somewhat obscure Sun Comic Publishing. It might be considered reminiscent of Otomo due to its artist, Kamui Fujiwara, who did do Dark Horse's Hellhounds (part of Oshii's Panzer Cops multimedia empire, natch). Domu is still a Dark Horse title.

Hasn't AnimeEigo been releasing the Sleepy Eyes of Death series for some time now? What I mean is, I believe they were out back when Raijin was doing the manga, so it is worth asking whether the U.S. DVD releases could provide any more sales support for the manga now than they could when Raijin was doing it. I'd rather have people buy more copies of the seinen titles we already publish first...

Viz, too. The tremendous success of their shonen titles doesn't mean they aren't also the publisher right now of DMC and Black Lagoon--not to mention Oishinbo (!), Naoki Urasawa, and their new SigIkki site.

I first discovered Anime in the mid-1990s when the local Tower Records began stocking BAREFOOT GEN, GRAVE OF THE FIREFLIES, and (of all things) UROTSUKIDOJI along with the requisite AKIRA tape. Sadly, I didn't know anyone else who was into it, so I had to rent every new tape I found, never knowing if I was going to hit paydirt or end up turning off the VCR 20 minutes in. Yes, I ended up seeing a lot of crap. Thankfully, I don't remember many of them. However, I also discovered the glorious worlds of ANGEL COP, WICKED CITY, DEMON CITY SHINJUKU, NINJA SCROLL, and THE PROFESSIONAL: GOLGO 13. I looked at them in the same way that I viewed American Action Films of the 1980s and early 1990s. They weren't meant to be realistic. They existed only to push the boundaries of manliness. They took everything that was fun about crazed Stallone and Schwarzenegger films and then cranked it into overdrive, going places that live-action films could never go. For a while there, it was great. Alas, all dreams must end and Anime like the titles I mentioned faded into the background and made room for the schoolgirl comedies we know today. I had almost given up hope of ever discovering other shows and films that would make me giggle with glee at their insane, testosterone-fueled, bloody action.

Then I found A.W.O.

Daryl, you have yet to steer me wrong. We are kindred spirits, my friend. Thank you so much for introducing me to HOKUTO NO KEN, CRUSHER JOE, and, yes, M.D. GEIST. Now, I have GOKU: MIDNIGHT EYE to look forward to.

You are providing a great service to the world, Daryl Surat.

Brian Kidd

PS Lest Clarissa and Gerald think I don't like them. I absolutely do! The three of you are the perfect balance of hosts.

It's true that badass accountants are scarce in anime, but I suppose a nod must be given to Mr. Prospector in Nadesico--although his reversal of King Solomon's logic must say something very profound about the difference between Japanese and Judaic ethics.

I noticed Gerald made a mention of Bill Plympton's work, in particular of his first feature "The Tune". He has of course worked on other feature-length films after that such as "I Married A Strange Person" (1997), Mutant Aliens (2001) and "Hair High" (2004), his latest film "Idiots & Angels" just came out last year and I often heard high praise for it. "The Tune" is a lot more family-friendly while his other efforts had been mostly adult in nature, but I think he's showing some maturity in his work as the years go by.

That film Gerald talked about with the two guys doing stuff to each other was a short made around '91 called "Push Comes To Shove"...http://www.tudou.com/programs/view/u6hpcfX_OJs/

The sequence was later incorporated in "The Tune", along with another short Plympton made called "The Wiseman". Both shorts were made essentially to fund the production of his first feature.

Noticed a mention for the short-lived Fox series "The Edge", for which Plympton kinda did the Terry Gilliam-esque bit for with those animated interstitial. I bothered making up a playlist of sketches from the show including some of the animations here for anyone to check out!http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=510B92A2D2B4FF9D